DLL circuit having variable clock divider

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is an apparatus that includes a variable clock divider configured to divide a first clock signal to generate a second clock signal, a delay circuit configured to delay the second clock signal to generate a third clock signal, and a phase detector configured to compare phases of the second and third clock signals. The variable clock divider has a division ratio that is variable based, at least in part, on a delay amount of the delay circuit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/786,362, filed Oct. 17, 2017 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,110,240 on Oct. 23, 2018. The aforementioned application, and issued patent, is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

In a synchronous memory device represented by a synchronous DRAM, a DLL circuit is used to correctly synchronize an output timing of a read data with an external clock signal. An output clock signal generated by the DLL circuit is supplied to an output buffer via a clock tree. When an internal clock signal with a high frequency propagates to the clock tree, current consumption increases. Accordingly, in a period in which no read data is output, the DLL circuit is stopped or the frequency of the internal clock signal is lowered to reduce the current consumption.

In a method of stopping the DLL circuit during a period in which no read data is output, the DLL circuit is periodically actuated to correct misalignment of the output clock signal caused by PVT fluctuations. In a method of lowering the frequency of the internal clock signal during a period in which no read data is output, the internal clock signal is divided by a clock divider.

The DLL circuit includes a phase detector to determine the phases of the external clock signal and the internal clock signal. When the phase detector is placed at a subsequent stage of the clock divider, the phase detector cannot determine the phases in some relations between a division ratio of the clock divider and a DLL forward path delay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a semiconductor device.

FIG. 2 is a truth table for explaining an operation of a decoder shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are timing charts for explaining a relation between a command signal CMD and a gear down signal.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a DLL circuit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a variable clock divider shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a special flip-flop circuit shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a waveform chart for explaining an operation of the DLL circuit when N is 2.

FIG. 8 is a waveform chart for explaining an operation of the DLL circuit when N is 3.

FIG. 9 is a waveform chart for explaining an operation of the DLL circuit when N is 4.

FIG. 10 is a waveform chart for explaining an operation of the DLL circuit when N is 5.

FIG. 11A to FIG. 11C are waveform charts for explaining a relation between a value of N and a division ratio.

FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B are waveform charts for explaining an operation of a DLL circuit according to a modification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific aspects and embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present invention. Other embodiments may be utilized, and structure, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The various embodiments disclosed herein are not necessary mutually exclusive, as some disclosed embodiments can be combined with one or more other disclosed embodiments to form new embodiments.

A semiconductor device 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a synchronous DRAM. An address signal ADD, a command signal CMD, and external clock signals CK and CKB are supplied to the semiconductor device 100 via a command address (CA) buffer 110. The CA buffer 110 supplies the address signal ADD to a memory cell array 120 and supplies the command signal CMD to a command decoder 130. The command decoder 130 decodes the command signal CMD to generate an internal command signal ICMD. The memory cell array 120 performs a read operation or a write operation based on the address signal ADD and the internal command signal ICMD. When the internal command signal ICMD indicates a read operation, a data is read from a memory cell designated by the address signal ADD and is supplied to an I/O circuit 140 via a data bus DB. The I/O circuit 140 includes an output buffer 140 a. The output buffer 140 a outputs a read data DQ to outside the semiconductor device 100 synchronously with an output clock signal LCLK.

The output clock signal LCLK is generated by a DLL circuit 150. The DLL circuit 150 delays an internal clock signal ICLK to generate the output clock signal LCLK. The internal clock signal ICLK is generated based on the external clock signals CK and CKB which are complementary with each other, and has a frequency equal to that of the external clock signals CK and CKB. A delay counter 160 may start measuring the time using a rising edge of an internal clock signal ICLKd at a time immediately after the DLL circuit 150 is reset as a trigger and may end the measurement using a rising edge of an internal clock signal ICLKfb output first after the DLL circuit 150 is reset as a trigger, thereby measuring the delay amount of the entire clock tree. The time measured by the delay counter 160 indicates the total delay amount of the CA buffer 110, the DLL circuit 150, and the I/O circuit 140 and this value is defined by N times of a clock cycle of the internal clock signal ICLK. The value of N is decoded by a decoder 170 and an odd signal ODD, a selection signal SEL23, a selection signal SEL45, a selection signal SEL67, etc. are generated. These signals are input to the DLL circuit 150. As shown in FIG. 2, the odd signal ODD takes a high level when the value of N is odd. The selection signal SEL23 takes a high level when the value of N is 2 or 3. The selection signal SEL45 takes a high level when the value of N is 4 or 5. The selection signal SEL67 takes a high level when the value of N is 6 or 7. It is sufficient that the number of selection signals is determined responsive to values that can be taken by N. The measurement of the delay amount by the delay counter 160 may be performed once each time the DLL circuit 150 is reset whether the DLL circuit 150 operates in a dividing mode or in a non-dividing mode. A reset operation of the DLL circuit 150 may be achieved by an initial sequence after power activation or an issuance of a DLL Reset command. The delay amount of the DLL circuit 150 is irrelevant to the operation mode. The value of N is stored in the delay counter 160 and is held until the DLL circuit 150 is reset. When the DLL circuit 150 is reset, the measurement of the delay amount by the delay counter 160 may be performed again and the value of N may be updated.

A gear down signal GD is also supplied to the DLL circuit 150 from the command decoder 130. When the gear down signal GD is activated, the DLL circuit 150 is brought into the dividing mode and the frequency of the output signal LCLK becomes lower than that of the internal clock signal ICLK. This reduces the current consumption. When the gear down signal GD is deactivated, the DLL circuit 150 is brought into the non-dividing mode and the frequency of the output clock signal LCLK becomes equal to the frequency of the internal clock signal ICLK. The gear down signal GD changes according to the command signal CMD. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the gear down signal GD may be deactivated responsive to a power down exit command (PDEX) and may be activated responsive to a power down entry command (PDEN). Accordingly, in a period in which the semiconductor device 100 operates in a power down mode, the DLL circuit 150 is brought into the dividing mode and thus the current consumption is reduced. Both in the non-dividing mode and the dividing mode, adjustment of the delay amount is performed by a delay adjustment circuit 240 (with reference to FIG. 4) in response to a result of a phase detector 220. However, because the value of N is determined at the time of reset and is held as described above, the same value is held until the next reset even when the delay adjustment circuit 240 adjusts the delay amount. Alternatively, the gear down signal GD may be deactivated for a certain period when the command signal CMD indicates a read operation as shown in FIG. 3B. In this case, when the read operation ends, the gear down signal GD may be activated automatically.

As shown in FIG. 4, the DLL circuit 150 includes a variable clock divider 200 that divides the internal clock signal ICLK. The variable clock divider 200 divides the internal clock signal ICLK when the gear down signal GD is activated, and does not divide the internal clock signal ICLK to be output as it is when the gear down signal GD is deactivated. The division ratio of the variable clock divider 200 can be varied by the odd signal ODD, the selection signal SEL23, the selection signal SEL45, the selection signal SEL67, etc.

The internal clock signal ICLKd output from the variable clock divider 200 is supplied to the phase detector 220 and a duty cycle adjuster 230 via buffers 210. The duty cycle adjuster 230 adjusts the duty cycle of the internal clock signal ICLKd to 50%. The internal clock signal ICLKd having the duty cycle adjusted to 50% is input to the delay adjustment circuit 240. The delay adjustment circuit 240 delays the internal clock signal ICLKd to generate the output clock signal LCLK. The output clock signal LCLK is supplied to the output buffer 140 a shown in FIG. 1.

The output clock signal LCLK is fed back to the phase detector 220 via a replica circuit 250. The replica circuit 250 has the same delay amount as the total delay amount of the output buffer 140 a, the CA buffer 110, the variable clock divider 200, and the buffers 210. Accordingly, the internal clock signal ICLKfb output from the replica circuit 250 correctly matches the output timing of the read data DQ output from the output buffer 140 a. The phase detector 220 determines the phases of the internal clock signal ICLKd and the internal clock signal ICLKfb to control the delay amount of the delay adjustment circuit 240 based on the determined phases.

As shown in FIG. 5, the variable clock divider 200 includes a plurality of flip-flop circuits 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, etc. The flip-flop circuits 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, etc. latch a data input to corresponding data input nodes D synchronously with the internal clock signal ICLKB and output the latched data from corresponding data output nodes Q, respectively. Because an inversion signal ICLKB of the internal clock signal ICLK is input to clock input nodes Clk of the flip-flop circuits 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, etc., the flip-flop circuits 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, etc. output a data synchronously with a rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK, respectively. The flip-flop circuits 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, etc. are reset when the gear down signal GD is deactivated to a low level. While the flip-flop circuits 302, 303, 304, 305, etc. have the same circuit configuration as that of a general flip-flop circuit, the flip-flop circuit 301 is a special flip-flop circuit having a logic gate circuit for generating enable signals EnA and EnB added thereto.

The flip-flop circuit 301 has a gear-down selection node Gd. The gear down signal GD is supplied to the gear-down selection node Gd. The flip-flop circuit 301 performs clocking of the enable signals EnA and EnB when the gear down signal GD is activated to a high level, and fixes the enable signals EnA and EnB to a high level when the gear down signal GD is deactivated to a low level.

An output signal of a multiplexer 311 is supplied to the data input node D of the flip-flop circuit 301. The multiplexer 311 receives an output data of a logic gate circuit 320, an output data of the flip-flop circuit 303, and an output data of the flip-flop circuit 304 and outputs any of the data based on the selection signals SEL23 and SEL45. The logic gate circuit 320 is placed at a subsequent stage of the flip-flop circuit 302 and a path passing through the flip-flop circuit 302 is enabled when the odd signal ODD is activated to a high level. When the odd signal ODD is at a low level, the flip-flop circuit 302 is bypassed.

The multiplexer 311 selects the output data of the logic gate circuit 320 when the selection signal SEL23 is activated, selects the output data of the flip-flop circuit 303 when the selection signal SEL45 is activated, and selects the output data of the flip-flop circuit 304 when the selection signals SEL23 and SEL45 are both deactivated. Accordingly, when the selection signal SEL23 is activated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated (N=2), the data output node Q and the data input node D of the flip-flop circuit 301 are circularly connected. When the selection signal SEL23 is activated and the odd signal DLL is activated (N=3), the flip-flop circuits 301 and 302 are circularly connected. When the selection signal SEL45 is activated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated (N=4), the flip-flop circuits 301 and 303 are circularly connected. When the selection signal SEL45 is activated and the odd signal ODD is activated (N=5), the flip-flop circuits 301 to 303 are circularly connected. When the selection signals SEL23 and SEL45 are both deactivated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated (N=6, 8, 10, etc.), at least the flip-flop circuits 301, 303, and 304 are circularly connected. When the selection signals SEL23 and SEL45 are both deactivated and the odd signal ODD is activated (N=7, 9, 11, etc.), at least the flip-flop circuits 301 to 303 and 304 are circularly connected.

As shown in FIG. 5, the output data of the flip-flop circuit 303 is supplied to the data input node D of the flip-fllop circuit 305 and a multiplexer 312. The multiplexer 312 receives the output data of the flip-flop circuit 303, an output data of the flip-flop circuit 305, and an output data of a circuit block 332 at the subsequent stage and outputs any of the data based on the selection signals SEL67 and SEL89. The multiplexer 312 selects the output data of the flip-flop circuit 303 when the selection signal SEL67 is activated, selects the output data of the flip-flop circuit 305 when the selection signal SEL89 is activated, and selects the output data of the circuit block 332 when the selection signals SEL67 and SEL89 are both deactivated.

Accordingly, when the selection signal SEL67 is activated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated (N=6), the flip-flop circuits 301, 303, and 304 are circularly connected. When the selection signal SEL67 is activated and the odd signal ODD is activated (N=7), the flip-flop circuits 301 to 304 are circularly connected. When the selection signal SEL89 is activated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated (N=8), the flip-flop circuits 301, 303, 305, and 304 are circularly connected. When the selection signal SEL89 is activated and the odd signal ODD is activated (N=9), the flip-flop circuits 301 to 303, 305, and 304 are circularly connected.

The circuit block 332 has the same circuit configuration as that of a circuit block 331. Selection signals SEL1011 and SEL1213 are input to the circuit block 332 and the circuit block 332 performs an identical operation to that of the circuit block 331 as described above according to logic levels of the selection signals SEL1011 and SEL1213. While FIG. 5 shows the two circuit blocks 331 and 332, more circuit blocks may be connected.

As shown in FIG. 6, the special flip-flop circuit 301 includes a circuit 401 having the same circuit configuration as that of a general flip-flop circuit, and a circuit 402 that generates the enable signals EnA and EnB. The circuit 401 functions to latch a data supplied to the data input node D synchronously with the clock signal ICLKB and output the data from the data output node Q. The circuit 402 generates the enable signal EnA having the same logic level as that of the data output from the data output node Q on condition that the gear down signal GD is at a high level. The enable signal EnB is an inversion signal of a signal obtained by delaying the enable signal EnA by a ½ clock cycle. When the gear down signal GD is at a low level, the enable signals EnA and EnB are both fixed to a high level.

Referring back to FIG. 5, the internal clock signal ICLK and the enable signal EnA are input to a NAND gate circuit 321. An internal clock signal ICLKF output from the NAND gate circuit 321 and the enable signal EnB are input to a NAND gate circuit 322. Because the enable signals EnA and EnB are both fixed to a high level when the gear down signal GD is at a low level, the internal clock signal ICLK is not divided and is output as it is as the internal clock signal ICLKd through the NAND gate circuits 321 and 322 at two stages. Therefore, the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd is substantially aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK. On the other hand, when the gear down signal GD is at a high level, the clock signal ICLK can pass through the NAND gate circuits 321 and 322 only in a period in which both the enable signals EnA and EnB are at a high level. The waveform of the enable signals EnA and EnB is different depending on the value of N output from the delay counter 160.

When the value of N is 2, the selection signal SEL23 is activated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated. Therefore, the data output node Q and the data input node D of the flip-flop circuit 301 are circularly connected and thus the enable signal EnA has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by two as shown in FIG. 7. Accordingly, the internal clock signal ICLKF has a waveform in which a low-level period appears every two clock cycles. Because the enable signal EnB is an inversion signal of a signal obtained by delaying the enable signal EnA by a ½ clock cycle, the internal clock signal ICLKd output from the NAND gate circuit 322 has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by two. Because the internal clock signal ICLKd is generated based on the internal clock signal ICLK passing through the NAND gate circuits 321 and 322 at two stages, the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd is substantially aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK.

When the value of N is 3, the selection signal SEL23 is activated and the odd signal ODD is activated. Accordingly, the flip-flop circuits 301 and 302 are circularly connected and the enable signal EnA has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by three as shown in FIG. 8. The internal clock signal ICLKd has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by three and the rising edge thereof is substantially aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK.

When the value of N is 4, the selection signal SEL45 is activated and the odd signal ODD is deactivated. Accordingly, the flip-flop circuits 301 and 303 are circularly connected and thus the enable signal EnA has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by four as shown in FIG. 9. The internal clock signal ICLKd has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by four and the rising edge thereof is substantially aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK.

When the value of N is 5, the selection signal SEL45 is activated and the odd signal ODD is activated. Accordingly, the flip-flop circuits 301 to 303 are circularly connected and thus the enable signal EnA has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by five as shown in FIG. 10. The internal clock signal ICLKd has a waveform obtained by dividing the internal clock signal ICLK by five and the rising edge thereof is substantially aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK.

When the value of N is 5, there is a delay of 5 clock cycles (=5tCK) between the internal clock signal ICLKd and the internal clock signal ICLKfb. Also in this case, when the DLL circuit 150 operates in the non-dividing mode, the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd is aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKfb as shown in FIG. 11A. This is because the delay amount of the entire clock tree including the DLL circuit 150 is defined by N times of the clock cycle of the internal clock signal ICLK. Meanwhile, when the DLL circuit 150 operates in the dividing mode, the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd is not aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKfb in some division ratios. For example, as shown in FIG. 11B, when the division ratio is set to 4 when the value of N is 5, the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd and the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKfb are not aligned and there is a difference of one clock cycle therebetween. However, in the DLL circuit 150 according to the present embodiment, an appropriate division ratio is automatically selected responsive to the value of N and thus misalignment between the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd and the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKfb does not occur. For example, as shown in FIG. 11C, when the value of N is 5, the division ratio is set to 5 and accordingly the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd and the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKfb are completely aligned. Besides, because the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd is substantially aligned with the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLK regardless of the division ratio, misalignment in the timing does not occur even when the division ratio is large.

In this way, when the DLL circuit 150 according to the present embodiment is used, the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKd and the rising edge of the internal clock signal ICLKfb can be aligned regardless of the value of N. Accordingly, the variable clock divider 200 can be placed at an arbitrary position. Furthermore, because the DLL circuit 150 is promptly changed from the dividing mode to the non-dividing mode when the gear down signal GD changes from a high level to a low level, the set-up time can be minimized.

In the present invention, it is not essential that the value of N is equal to the division ratio and the division ratio M can be set to a divisor of N. For example, when the value of N is 6, the division ratio M can be set to 3 as shown in FIG. 12A or the division ratio M can be set to 2 as shown in FIG. 12B. This can reduce the division ratio M even when the value of N is large and thus enables the determination operation of the phase detector 220 to be performed more frequently.

Although this invention has been disclosed in the context of certain preferred embodiments and examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the inventions extend beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the inventions and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. In addition, other modifications which are within the scope of this invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art based on this disclosure. It is also contemplated that various combination or sub-combination of the specific features and aspects of the embodiments may be made and still fall within the scope of the inventions. It should be understood that various features and aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be combined with or substituted for one another in order to form varying mode of the disclosed invention. Thus, it is intended that the scope of at least some of the present invention herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a variable clock divider configured to generate a divided clock signal based on feedback of a delay amount; a delay circuit configured to input the divided clock signal, delay and output the divided clock signal based on the delay amount, and provide the feedback of the delay amount to the variable clock divider; and a phase detector configured to: compare phases of the divided clock signal and the delayed divided clock signal, and control the delay circuit to match phases of the divided clock signal and the delayed divided clock signal.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the variable clock divider is further configured to input an internal clock signal, and divide the internal clock signal to generate the divided clock signal.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a clock path including the delay circuit, the clock path configured to input an internal clock signal, wherein the variable clock divider is further configured to divide the internal clock signal to generate the divided clock signal.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the variable clock divider has a division ratio responsive to a number of clock pulses of the internallock signal exhibited during a delay to the internal clock signal by e clock path.
 5. An apparatus, comprising: a variable clock divider configured to generate a divided clock signal based on feedback of a delay amount; a delay circuit configured to input the divided clock signal, delay and output the divided clock signal based on the delay amount, and provide the feedback of the delay amount to the variable clock divider; a duty cycle adjuster; and a buffer coupled between the variable clock divider and the duty cycle adjuster, the duty cycle adjuster configured to input and adjust a duty cycle of the divided clock signal via the buffer.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an output buffer; and a replica circuit configured to receive the delayed divided clock signal and provide output clock signal feedback, wherein the output clock signal feedback is the delayed divided clock signal having an output timing matched with output timing of read data output from the output buffer.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the replica circuit has substantially a same delay as the output buffer.
 8. An apparatus, comprising: a variable clock divider configured to generate a divided clock signal based on feedback of a delay amount; a delay circuit configured to input the divided clock signal, delay and output the divided clock signal based on the delay amount, and provide the feedback of the dela amount to the variable clock divider; a buffer coupled to the variable clock divider; a phase detector coupled between the buffer and the delay circuit; and a duty cycle adjuster coupled between the buffer and the delay circuit.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the duty cycle adjuster is configured to adjust a duty cycle of the divided clock signal provided, via the buffer, by the variable clock divider.
 10. An apparatus, comprising: a delay circuit configured to receive a clock signal and delay the clock signal for a first period; a clock divider circuit configured to divide the clock signal based on the first period, and provide a divided clock signal; and a phase detector configured to compare phases of the divided clock signal and the delayed divided clock signal output by the delay circuit.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the clock divider circuit is further configured to divide the clock signal by using a logic gate circuit activated by an enable signal, and wherein the enable signal is brought into an enable state based on a division ratio of the clock divider circuit.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the clock divider circuit is further configured to divide the clock signal based on a division ratio of the clock divider circuit.
 13. An apparatus, comprising: a delay circuit configured to receive a clock signal and delay the clock signal for a first period; a clock divider circuit configured to divide the clock signal based on the first period, and provide a divided clock signal; a duty cycle adjuster; and a buffer coupled between the clock divider circuit and the duty cycle adjuster, the duty cycle adjuster configured to adjust a duty cycle of the divided clock signal provided, via the buffer; by the clock divider circuit.
 14. An apparatus, comprising: a delay circuit configured to receive a clock signal and delay the clock signal for a first period; a clock divider circuit configured to divide the clock signal based on the first period, and provide a divided clock signal; and a counter circuit configured to count a number of clock pulses of the clock signal during the first period, wherein the clock divider circuit has a frequency division ratio based, at least in part, on the number of clock pulses of the clock signal.
 15. An apparatus, comprising: a clock path including, at least, a delay circuit, the clock path configured to receive a clock signal; and a variable clock divider configured to divide the clock signal based, at least in part, on a delay to the clock signal by the clock path, the delay circuit configured to input the divided clock signal from the variable clock divider, delay the divided clock signal, and output the delayed divided clock signal, wherein the variable clock divider has a division ratio that is variable based, at least in part, on the delay to the clock signal by the clock path.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein an amount of the delay by the clock path is N times of a clock cycle of the clock signal, and wherein the division ratio of the variable clock divider is M, where 1 is divisor of N.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein M is equal to N. 